FOLLOWING her debut, ‘The Cats We Meet Along the Way’ in 2023, author Nadia Mikail returns this year with her second novel, ‘What is a Flood of Memories’ – showcasing sharper storytelling, tighter plotting, and a more confident command of her craft. Having had a passion for writing since she was seven years old, with her sister by her side as her biggest supporter, Nadia’s latest release explores navigating hardships and hard feelings.
Set in Kuching, Sarawak, ‘What is a Flood of Memories’ follows Leila, who returns home to help her mother as the monsoon season approaches, before the floods become serious.
“But she hasn’t been home since the death of her father, and she’s not ready to confront what’s waiting for her in Kuching. Her life with her father was complicated and the memories she has of him are painful to face,” said Nadia.
However, while in Kuching, Leila rekindles with a boy whom she has thought about since leaving school, and this moment together feels like a second chance. But if she were to move on with her life, she must first confront the past and its many demons.
When working on this second book, Nadia said the inspiration came from a memory of her own — of watching the sun rise over the waters rising in her kampung. This personal memory was written into the book, with the rest of the story spun from that singular moment.
As a child, Nadia, who experienced the scene, remembered feeling: “the strange, helpless feeling, as a child, of watching everything you know to be familiar being swallowed up by a swelling, unstoppable force”. Having been raised in a home by the Sarawak River, each monsoon season brings distressing feelings for her parents as she recalls the water creeping in at dawn each time.
“It was quite stressful and scary; we didn’t know how high the floodwaters would go and we had to move all our things to the second floor. When the water entered, we were told that it was dirty and warned against playing in it, as there might be animals or sharp objects. Cleaning up after was also exhausting.”
Though it wasn’t a yearly affair, the flood depended on how heavy the rain was that season. With this constant reminder at the back of her head, Nadia felt compelled to write the memory, especially with climate change surrounding us.
As she navigates through the difficult feelings in the book, she feels the pressure of needing to handle the storyline carefully and thoughtfully, while making sure it is realistically depicted.
“This book centres on situations that involve difficult and delicate family dynamics. Getting Leila from where she was at the beginning of the novel to the end was really hard. She’s very avoidant, hurt, and anxious about opening herself up to anything. She’s gone through so much. I wanted to help her get to a point where she, if not fully healed, at least feels ready to take the rest of her life on.”
According to Nadia also, writing about the main character was her most difficult challenge, with all the complex emotions involved.
“And getting that to feel real and earned, to make her confront everything in her past and have hard conversations with people in her life, that was fairly challenging.”
Like the story of Leila, she manages through the challenges and comes out with lessons about the environment.
Emphasising the need to protect the forest, Nadia commented that we should advocate for better infrastructure to safeguard communities from climate change.
As the world changes, she said that we need to look out for each other, take care of each other, and make sure that the people in our lives know that we are here for them.
Second-book Syndrome
After her first release, Nadia conceded feeling the pressure to live up to the expectations of her first book. With the positive feedback from her first book in mind, she felt compelled to release an even better book next.
“Yes, there was pressure. People said really nice things about the first one and I wanted them to like the second one just as much! But I felt the most worry when my editor Bella read it and my sister read it.”
Nevertheless, Nadia’s editor and sister gave her the green light to go, “and hearing that, a lot of the pressure lessened, as I trust them in providing feedback on my stories!”
As an author, Nadia was told that she keeps trying to pick the most complicated emotional situations as her focus.
Regardless of the challenges, she said that she enjoys writing about healing, second chances, and perseverance. And with ‘What is a Flood of Memories’, her sister told her that her plotting was tighter compared to the first book.
Asked when she knew her manuscript was truly complete, Nadia expressed uncertainty – “even to this day, I still have more things to add into both books”.
But as she plans for her next book, she knows that Kuching will always be home to her, though she is based in the United Kingdom today.
“It’s where I grew up and where my favourite food is and where all my memories are. I could write 20 more books in tribute to it. I love it and miss it so much.”
